Orlando Pirates boss Muhsin Ertugral believes his side is suffering from fatigue following a late 1-1 draw with Polokwane City on Sunday.

According to Ertugral his international players have failed to recover from the draining international break as his side was largely outplayed in their Premiership contest, despite grabbing a last-ditch equaliser through a Tendai Ndoro header.

‘We had nine players off in the international week and Edwin came back injured from Ghana in the game against Bafana Bafana in Durban ([last week Tuesday],’ Ertugral explained to KickOff.

‘You could see Mpho Makola, he played two games in the national team and Thabo Matlaba. Beside that he did everything today. But they were tired from Bafana Bafana.’

Pirates are now four points off the pace in the race for the Premiership title as Kaizer Chiefs and Golden Arrows sit joint top of the log.

Ertugral, however, insists he is not perturbed by the opening gap as his side still have a game in hand.

‘Actually, I’m not concerned, the concern comes when you lose games,’ he explained.

‘We were lopsided in the game in the first half and we didn’t throw much punches. We got in a very unlucky situation by conceding a goal and it changed the game’s form.’

Pirates are next in action when they welcome Golden Arrows to the Orlando Stadium in the Telkom Knockout this coming weekend.

The fixture will get underway at 15:00 on Sunday.